A Visit to “Sadaiv Atal” – The Memorial of Atal Bihari Vajpayee

“Sadaiv Atal” is a memorial of the late leader Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee who passed away in Delhi on August 16 after a prolonged illness. This memorial was dedicated to the nation on 25th Dec 2018 on his 94th birth anniversary and was inaugurated by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The memorial built near the Rashtriya Smriti Sthal, where his funeral took place on August 17.

About the Memorial –

“Sadaiv Atal”, the Samadhi of Bharat Ratna & former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee reflects his personality as a poet, a humanist, a statesman & a Great leader. The Samadhi platform in the center is built of nine square black polished granite stone blocks, and in the middle, there is a ‘Diya’. There are 9 stone blocks as the number 9 signifies and represents the Nava Rasas, Navaratras, and Navagrahas. The nine squares are placed in such a way that it forms the shape of a lotus. To ensure that the floor does not get heated, the nine-square platform is accessed in four cardinal directions by pathways made in white composite tiles.

Details of the Samadhi –

The Sadaiv AtalSamadhi also encloses by nine walls which have inscriptions of the famous prose/ poetry of Atalji which can be read by the visitor while walking around the outer circular path.

Stones from various parts of the country emphasizing “unity in diversity”have been used in the construction of the Atalji’s Samadhi. The Main Samadhi stone is monolithic zed black sourced from the best quarries of Khammam from Telangana.

The parikrama area( walking around) is laid in white composite tiles, which does not get heated in the sunlight. The Diya, which is placed on the top of Samadhi is made up of leather finish black granite sourced from Khammam and the flame of Diya is made in Crystal with LED lights placed inside.

The petals inside, inside, the outer petals and the area in between the intersection of petals which form a part of outer parikrama are laid in colour composition of Crystal Yellow and Neo Copper granite which are sourced from the best quarries of Abu Road from Rajasthan. Pathways are built of leather finish black granite.